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To: isdsms who wrote (55022)	3/28/1999 7:51:00 PM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

OIL AFFICIANDOS - This news should help those of you with energy shares: it might also help the tone of the general market, Monday. March 28, 1999 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BP Amoco Is in Serious Talks To Acquire Atlantic Richfield By ANITA RAGHAVAN, STEVE LIESMAN andCHRISTOPHER COOPER Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BP Amoco PLC, continuing its quest to build a global oil juggernaut, is in serious talks to acquire Atlantic Richfield Co. in a stock deal valued at about $25 billion, say people familiar with the situation. The talks, which still could fall through, come on the heels of the former British Petroleum's $48.2 billion purchase of Amoco Corp. at year end and would make BP Amoco about equal in oil production to a merged Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. Currently, BP Amoco is in the top three, along with Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Exxon. BP Amoco Reported a 37% Decline in Its Fourth-Quarter Net Income (Feb. 18) BP Amoco's Lowrie Steps Down From Board, Gives Up Other Posts (Feb. 12) BP Amoco Announces Plan to Cut 1,500 Jobs in Chicago (Feb. 5) Arco and Chevron to Combine Oil Assets in Permian Basin in 50-50 Joint Venture (Feb. 3) While precise terms of the deal couldn't be learned, an announcement could come as early as this week, these people say. A spokesman for BP Amoco declined comment, as did an Atlantic Richfield spokesman. With Atlantic Richfield -- known as Arco -- BP Amoco would fill a gap in its arsenal on the West Coast, where Arco is one of the largest gasoline refiners, and consolidate its position in Alaska, where both companies are big players. Combined, the company would have reserves of nearly 11.8 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The company also would produce slightly more crude oil a day than a combined Exxon-Mobil. While the company would have the world's third-largest natural-gas holdings, the acquisition could pave the way for the development of Alaska's vast natural-gas reserves. The talks, coming so soon after the Amoco acquisition, reflect the outsize global ambitions of BP Chief Executive John Browne. Since taking the helm of then British Petroleum in 1995, Mr. Browne has transformed the oil company into a global giant that is now referred to as a "serial consolidator" in banking circles. The talks also continue the merger mania that has intensified since oil prices slid to their lowest levels in a more than a decade, putting further pressure on companies to trim costs. Since BP agreed to buy Amoco last summer, the biggest industrial combination completed to date, Exxon has agreed to merge with Mobil, and France's Total SA has hitched up with Belgian oil concern Petrofina SA. A marriage of BP and Arco would cap an acquisitive year for the once state-owned British oil giant. oil share